Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Raspberry Pi

So I have begun my adventure into the world of Pi. I suppose
it was inevitable really. In case you are not familiar with the world of Pi
here’s a brief history and overview (more details here):

A group of computer scientists – including Eben Upton from Cambridge
became aware that students were not getting the opportunity to play with
computers – to learn how to program and the huge potential for hardware manipulation
there is – in the way that children who grew up in the 80s and 90s did. Whilst
home computers had got ever more powerful, they also have become very
domesticated. Given the low cost of components they realised that it would be
possible to construct a low-cost computer, just the size of a credit card with
amazing functionality. And what they came up with was the RaspberryPi. The
basic model is priced at $25 and $35 for the more advanced version. So a charitable company makes the devices and a huge community of enthusiasts develop the operating environment(s) and software for the device. It really is impressive.

The Pi has been out for about a year and is loved by
educationalists and computer-DIY-enthusiasts like me. The huge array of uses
that Pi’s have been put to is really impressive and so it’s about time I joined
in (for example...). I suspect I will end up with several Raspberries but this is the story of Pi_1.

Pi_1 – Media Centre Extender

I have had a MediaCentre PC for about 8 years now. It runs
the projector which replaced a TV in my lounge. Sometimes, however I want to
access media in locations other than my lounge. There are several ways to
do this but I wanted the subtly of a Media Centre Extender, rather than having
to fire-up a computer every time.This
is unbelievably simple with a Pi. Not least because so much of the work has
been done already.

So here it is, powered directly from the TV and networked by
mains-ethernet I had a fully functional MediaCentre Extender in less than an
hour. The XBMC distribution of Linux is excellent; very functional, user friendly and (of course) freely
available.(It will be completely hidden once I've finished playing)

It is important to note that to playback most video file types,
the purchasing of codecs is necessary but given that it’s £3.60 for both, I
didn’t feel that was too much of a hardship.

The only thing I haven't quite settled on is how I will control it... A lot of modern TV can communicate via the HDMI cable and hence you can control the Pi from the TV remote. I haven't managed to set that up yet but in the meantime there is a neat Android App for my phone...

About Me

I have no idea whether anyone will actually read this. My blog is simply a result of the fact that I have too much to say and it is nothing more or less than my thoughts. Read, agree, disagree and post comments!